Lerna Ekmekçioğlu (Associate Professor of History at Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Melissa Bilal (Assistant Professor of Humanities & Social Sciences at the American University of Armenia) speak about the background, significance and future of their book/website project where they focus on the lives and works of 12 Istanbul-born feminists, revealing an important chapter in the history of Western Armenian feminism.

A small island in Marmara Sea, close to Istanbul, lies Burgaz, once called Antigoni. It is an entire country, and an endless longing, for the former residents. Along with thousands of Greek minorities (Roums) in İstanbul, they paid for the political struggles between Turkish and Greek governments, and as a result departed from their beloved homeland of Antigoni in their youth. They tried to escape from the memories at first, and for many years stayed away from the island that was their fairyland once. They tried to replace Antigoni with other islands. But neither Burgaz could live without them, nor could they live without Antigoni. The time has come to reunite old friends in their middle age.View the documentary on Vimeo

TODAY, EUROPE’S FASTEST GROWING JEWISH POPULATION IS IN BERLIN.
Germany is considered one of the most democratic societies in the world, assuming the position of moral leader in Europe as it embraces hundreds of thousands of refugees. None of these developments could have been imagined in 1945. Through personal stories Germans & Jews explores the country’s transformation from silence about the Holocaust to facing it head on. Unexpectedly, a nuanced story of reconciliation emerges. What began as a private conversation between the two filmmakers and friends, Tal Recanati (Jewish) and Janina Quint (non-Jewish German), grew into a cultural exchange among many. We realize that the two people are inextricably linked through the memory of the Holocaust. Germans and Jews is provocative, unexpected and enlightening.
In North America, the film is available to stream and buy from Amazon, iTunes and First Run Features.